"There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos"
Jim Hightower-TX writer-politician

I disagree with Hightower.

What you will find here is: a centrist's view of current events;
a collection of thoughts, arguments, and observations
that I have found appealing and/or amusing over the years;
and, if you choose, your civil contributions which will make it into a conversation.

He not busy bein' born, is busy dyin'. - Bob Dylan

Please refer to participants only by their designated identities.

suggestion for US citizens: When a form asks for your race, write in: -- American

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

I am not
sure that the Republic can survive. It
now seems beyond a reasonable doubt that Beyonce lip-synched the Star Spangled Banner.

My favorite part was:

“We
recognize that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, any one of us, at
any time, may face a job loss, or a sudden illness, or a home swept away in a
terrible storm. The commitments we make to each other – through Medicare, and
Medicaid, and Social Security – these things do not sap our initiative; they
strengthen us. They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to
take the risks that make this country great.

We, the
people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to
ourselves, but to all posterity.”

That is
a nice statement of the liberal position on the “expanded safety net” and our
communal commitment to provide those worthwhile (and expensive) things to each
other. I support it. Those benefits cover all of us, including the
much courted middle class. Now, how do
you keep this vision of “communal commitments” from being just a nice cover
story for “the people voting themselves money out of the public treasury?” I read on in order to find out about how he
would handle the call on us to sacrifice to meet the other half of this
enormous obligation to the community.

It never
came. Mr. Obama’s commitment to
community centers on distribution not responsibility.

The thing that I liked least
about the speech was that:

If you
look through it you will find numerous tributes to the community, but very few
to the individual.